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A 

ROMAN  CATHOLIC 
CANARD. 


A  Fabricated  Account  of  a  Scene  at  the  Deathbed 
of  Thomas  Paine. 

DID  BISHOP  FEN  WICK  WRITE  IT? 


"  I  have  lived  an  honest  and  useful  life  to  mankind;  my  time 
has  been  spent  in  doing  good,  and  I  die  in  perfect  composure 
and  resignation  to  the  will  of  my  creator  God  "  (Will  of  Thomas 
Paine,  Jan.  18,  1809). 

"And  the  fifth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  seat  of  the 
beast;  and  his  kingdom  was  full  of  darkness;  and  they  gnawed 
their  tongues  for  Paine  "  (Kev.  xvi,  10). 


NEW  YOKE: 
THE  TRUTH  SEEKER  PUBLISHING  HOUSE. 

21  CLINTON  PLACE. 


,1 


A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CANARD. 


A  Fabricated  Account  of  a  Scene  at  the  Death 
bed  of  Thomas  Paine.     Did   Bishop 
Fenwick  Write  It? 


"I  have  lived  an  honest  and  useful  life  to  mankind;  my  time 
has  been  spent"  iu'doing  good,  and  'I  die""  in  perfect  composure 
and  resignation  to  the  will  6f  my  creator  God  "  (Will  of  Thomas 
Paine,  Jan.  18,  1809). 

Several  newspapers,  religious  and  secular,  have 
lately  published  a  long  and  libelous  account  of  "The 
Last  Hours  of  the  Great  Infidel  Thomas  Paine,"  pur 
porting  to  be  a  letter  signed  "  f  Benedict,  Bishop  of 
Boston."  The  Eight  Kev.  Benedict  Joseph  Fenwick, 
D.D.,  was  born  in  St.  Mary's  county,  Md.,  Sept.,  3, 
1782,  was  bishop  of  Boston  in  1825,  and  died  Aug, 
11,  1846.  The  letter,  if  authentic,  was  written  to  his 
brother  Enoch,  who  died  in  1828.  It  begins  thus.:'!: 

"A  short  time  before  Paine  died  I  was  sent  for  by  him.  He 
was  prompted  to  this  by  a  poor  Catholic  woman  who  went  to  see 
him  in  his  sickness,  and  who  told  him  among  other  things  that 
in  his  wretched  condition,  if  anybody  could  do  him  good  it  would 
be  a  Roman  Catholic  priest.  This  woman  was  an  American  con 
vert  (formerly  a  shaking  Quakeress),  whom  I  had  received  into 
the  church  only  a  few  weeks  before.  She  was  the  bearer  of  this 
message  to  me  from  Paine.  I  stated  the  circumstance  to 
F[ather]  Kohlman  at  breakfast,  and  requested  him  to  accompany 
me.  After  some  solicitation  on  my  part  he  agreed  to  do  so,  at 
which  I  was  greatly  rejoiced,  because  I  was  at  the  time  young 
and  inexperienced  in  the  ministry,  and  glad  to  have  his  assistance, 
as  I  knew  from  the  great  reputation  of  Paine  that  I  should  have 
to  do  with  one  of  the  most  impious  as  well  as  infamous  of  men." 

Father  Fenwick  at  this  time  had  been  a  Jesuit  priest 
about  one  year,  was  not  yet  twenty-seven  years  old, 


A  '  c 


X 


2  A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CANARD. 

and  was  sent  in  that  very  year  from  Georgetown,  D.C., 
with  Father  Kohlman,  another  Jesuit,  to  take  charge 
of  the  only  Catholic  church  in  New  York  city.  Now 
there  were  two  classes  of  men  that  Paine  hated 
above  all  others,  namely,  Scotch  tories  and  Catholic 
priests.  But  the  writer  of  this  letter  tells  us  unequiv 
ocally  and  repeatedly  that  Paine  sent  a  poor  shaking 
Catholic  Quakeress  to  invite  a  Komish  priest  to  visit 
him,  and  that  she  accordingly  went  and  summoned  a 
young  Jesuit  father  who  had  just  become  pastor  of 
the  only  Catholic  church  in  New  York.  Credat  Jesuit- 
icus  cum  pelle  caudce  ! 

Arriving  at  the  house  where  Paine  lodged,  the  two 
priests  were  met  at  the  door  by  a  "decent-looking, 
elderly  woman,"  who  inquired  if  they  were  the  Cath 
olic  priests.  "For,"  said  she,  "  Mr.  Paine  has  been  so 
much  annoyed  of  late  by  ministers  of  other  denom 
inations  calling  on  him  that  he  has  left  express  orders 
with  rne  to  admit  no  one  to-day  except  the  clergymen 
of  the  Catholic  church." 

Poor  pestered  Paine  !  Parsons  Milledoliar  and  Cun 
ningham  had  been  there,  and  the  latter  had  said  to 
him,  "  You  have  now  a  full  view  of  death  ;  you  cannot 
live  long,  and  whosoever  does  not  believe  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  will  assuredly  be  damned."  And  to  this 
PIOUS  and  polite  address  Paine  had  replied  :  "  Let  me 
have  none  of  your  popish  stuff.  Get  away  with  you. 
Good  morning,  good  morning."  And  when  Mr.  Mille- 
dollar  attempted  to  address  him  he  was  interrupted 
with  the  same  language.  And  when  they  were  gone 
Paine  said  to  Mrs.  Heddon,  an  elderly  woman  em 
ployed  to  wait  on  him,  "Don't  let'em  come  here 
again;  they  trouble  me"  (Sherwin's  Paine,  220). 
Other  clergymen  had  spoken  to  him  in  a  similar  man 
ner,  and  were  similarly  repelled.  But  after  all  this  we 
are  told  that  Paine  sent  for  a  Jesuit  and  gave  orders 
to  his  pious  Protestant  attendant  to  let-  in  none  that 
day  but  Catholics  !  Credal  holy  friar! 


A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CANARD.          3 

The  two  priests  entered  the  parlor.  Paine  was 
asleep,  and  the  housekeeper  said  it  wouldn't  do  to 
wake  him,  it  made  him  so  cross.  Mr.  Sherwood,  a 
neighbor,  wlio  frequently  visited  Paine  in  his  illness, 
says  that  old  Mrs.  Hedden  was  a  religious  bigot,  and 
never  let  slip  an  opportunity  of  teasing  Paine  with 
her  clattering  tongue,  and  that  she  was  artfully  sent 
by  priests  to  attend  on  him  during  his  illness.  She 
would  frequently  read  the  Bible  to  him,  but  to  this  he 
paid  no  attention  (Sherwin's  Paine,  222,  226). 

The  Jesuits  resolved  to  wait  until  Paine  awoke. 
Meanwhile  the  woman  said  to  them  : 

"  Gentlemen,  I  really  wish  you  may  succeed  with  Mr.  Paine, 
for  he  is  laboring  under  great  distress  of  mind  ever  since  he  was 
informed  by  his  physician  that  he  cannot  possibly  live,  and  must 
die  shortly.  He  sent  for  you  to-day  because  he  was  told  that  if 
any  one  could  do  him  good  you  might." 

Credai  Joseph  Cook  ! 

The  next  sentence  of  this  woman's  reported  conver 
sation  is  remarkable : 

"Possibly  he  may  think  you  know  of  some  remedy  which  his 
physicians  are  ignorant  of." 

As  if  Dr.  Manley  and  other  regular  physicians  were 
to  be  superseded  by  the  medical  skill  of  a  youthful 
priest  who  had  recently  arrived  from  the  Jesuit  col 
lege  of  Georgetown,  D.  C.  Credat  ex- Surgeon-  General 
Hammond! 

But  now  comes  a  sentence  for  which  we  happen  to 
hav  a  prior  parallel  in  a  letter  written  Sept.  27,  1809, 
by  Paine's  physician,  Dr.  Manley,  at  the  request  of 
the  malignant  libeler,  Cheetham,  and  published  that 
same  year.  Here  are  the  parallel  sentences: 


From  Dr.  Mariley's  Letter,  1809. 
He  would  call  out  during  his 
paroxysms  of  distress,  without 
intermission,  '  0  Lord,  help  me! 
God  help  me !  Jesus  Christ 
lielp  me!"  etc.,  repeating  the 
same  expressions  without  the 
least  variation,  in  a  tone  of  voice 
that  would  alarm  the  house." 


From  the  Fenwick  Letter,  1849. 
"'O  Lord,  help  me!"  he 
will  exclaim  in  his  paroxysms  of 
distress,  '  God  help  me  !  Jesus 
Christ  help  me  !  "  repeating  the 
same  expression  without  the 
least  variation,  in  a  tone  of 
voice  that  would  alarm  the 
house." 


4          A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CANARD. 

Here  is  a  sentence  of  thirty-seven  words  plagiarized 
from  Dr.  Manley's  letter.  The  only  words  that  differ 
from  Manley's  are  "  will  exclaim  in  "  for  "  would  call 
out  during."  Four  words  are  transposed  and  twro 
omitted  by  the  literary  thief.  This  evidence  alone 
stamps  the  Fen  wick  letter  as  a  fabrication.  Its  first 
publication  was  in  the  United  States  Catholic  Magazine 
for  1846,  and  in  the  Catholic  Herald,  Oct.  15,  1846. 
That  was  the  year  Bishop  Fenwick  died,  and  was 
eighteen  years  after  the  death  of  the  brother  to 
whom  it  purports  to  have  been  addressed.  And  now 
the  question  for  the  Catholic  church  in  America  to 
answer  is,  Did  Bishop  Fenwick  write  it?  Credat  Leo 
X11L 

But  now  we  propose  to  prove  that  Dr.  ManleyV 
statement  is  untruthful.  It  is  certainly  a  gross  per 
version  of  the  facts.  He  sa}7s  he  was  called  upon  by 
accident  to  visit  the  patient  on  the  25th  of  February, 
1809;  that  the  next  day  lie  related  his  condition  to 
two  of  Paine's  friends,  one  being  an  executor  of  his 
estate  (the  will  is  dated  Jan.  18th,  and  the  executors 
named  are  Walter  Morton,  Thomas  Addis  Emmett, 
and  Mrs.  Bonneville,  all  legatees),  and  being  requested 
to  pay  him  particular  attention,  he  from  that  time 
considered  Paine  under  his  care.  It  certainly  looks 
as  if  Dr.  Manley  sought  to  be  employed,  and  his 
whole  conduct  was,  to  say  the  least,  unfair  and  de 
ceitful.  Soon  after  writing  that  letter  he  joined  the 
church.  It  was  written  at  the  solicitation  of  Paine's 
enemy  and  calumniator  Cheetharn,  to  be  incorporated 
into  Cheetham's  "Life  of  Paine,"  then  preparing  for 
the  press.  The  author  solicited  Dr.  Manley's  observa 
tions  on  Paine's  "temper  and  habits,  the  cause  and 
nature  of  his  disease,  the  kind  of  persons  by  whom 
he  was  visited  during  his  illness,  their  general  con 
versation  with  him  respecting  his  Deistical  works,  his 
own  remarks,  opinions,  and  behavior"  (Cheetham's 
Paine,  300).  Five  days  after  the  date  of  that  re- 


A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CANARD.          6 

quest  Dr.  Manley  has  an  answer  completed,  filling 
eleven  pages  of  Cheetham's  lying  biography.  The 
doctor  says: 

"  I  hasten,  in  conformity  to  your  wishes,  to  communicate  the 
information  I  possess  respecting  its  subject.  Though  my  oppor 
tunity  has  been  great,  you  will,  no  doubt,  observe  my  knowledge 
to  be  very  limited  "  (Ibid). 

The  house  where  Paine  died  was  owned  by  Amasa 
Woodsworth,  who  was  living  as  late  as  1839  in  East 
Cambridge,  Boston.  In  that  year  he  made  an  author 
ized  statement  to  Gilbert  Vale  about  Paine's  last 
days,  in  which  he  characterizes  Dr.  Manley's  pub 
lished  account  as  false.  He  says  that  he  visited 
Paine  every  day  for  six  weeks  before  his  death,  fre 
quently  sat  up  with  him,  and  did  so  on  the  last  two 
nights  of  his  life.  He  was  always  there  with  Dr. 
Manley,  assisted  him  in  lifting  Paine,  and  was  pres 
ent  when  the  doctor  asked  him  if  he  wished  to  be 
lieve  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  son  of  God,  and  heard 
Paine's  emphatic  answer,  "  I  have  no  wish  to  believe 
on  that  subject"  (Yale's  Paine,  156). 

Now  at  that  very  time  Dr.  Manley  says  he  intro 
duced  the  subject  to  Paine  bv  saying  : 

"  '  Why  do  you  call  on  Jesus  Christ  to  help  you?  Do  you  be 
lieve  he  can  help  you  ?  Do  you  believe  in  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ?  Come,  now,  answer  me  honestly.  I  want  an  answer 
from  the  lips  of  a  dying  man,  for  I  verily  believe  that  you  will  not 
live  twenty-four  hours.'  I  waited  some  time  at  the  end  of  every 
question;  he  did  not  answer,  but  ceased  to  exclaim  in  the  above 
manner.  Again  I  addressed  him:  'Mr.  Paine,  you  have  not  an 
swered  my  questions.  Will  you  answer  them?  Allow  me  to  ask 
again,  "  Do  you  believe,  or,  let  me  qualify  the  question,  Do  you 
wish  to  believe,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  son  of  God?"'  After 
a  pause  of  some  minutes  he  answered,  '  I  have  no  wish  to  be 
lieve  on  that  subject'"  (Cheetham's  Paine,  307). 

These  were  Paine's  last  words,  and  were  uttered  in 
the  hearing  of  Dr.  Manley  and  Amasa  Woodsworth. 
we  now  quote  from  the  latter's  authorized  statement  in 
1839,  made  to  Paine's  biographer,  Vale  : 

"  He  informs  us  that  he  has  openly  reproved  the  doctor  for  the 
falsity  contained  in  the  spirit  of  that  letter,  boldly  declaring  before 


6  A    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    CANARD. 

Dr.  Manley,  who  is  yet  living,  that  nothing  which  he  saw  justi 
fied  his  (the  doctor's)  insinuations." 

The  fact  was,  as  Woodsworth  states,  that  Paine  was- 
too  ill  and  too  much  tortured  to  converse  on  abstract 
subjects.  And  anyone  can  see  that  Dr.  Manley  was- 
impertinent  and  cruel  in  insisting  upon  an  answer  to- 
such  a  question  from  a  dying  man.  And  his  re 
peated  statement  about  Paine's  calling  on  Jesus 
Christ  to  help  him  is  a  gross  perversion.  For  this 
same  Woodsworth  *  in  1842  was  asked  by  Philip 
Graves.  M.D.,  if  Paine  recanted  and  called  upon  God 
to  save  him.  And  Woodsworth  replied  : 

"  No.  He  died  as  he  had  taught.  He  had  a  sore  upon  his  side, 
and  when  we  turned  him  it  was  Very  painful,  and  he  would  cry 
out,  '  O  God !'  or  something  like  that.  But  that  was  nothing, 
for  he  believed  in  a  God  "  (Ingersoll's  Paine  Vindicated,  Truth 
Seeker  Tract  No.  123,  p.  21). 

Another  probable  source  of  this  perversion  of  facts 
is  an  extract  from  the  journal  of  Stephen  Grellet,  a 
Quaker  preacher,  made  in  the  fall  of  1809.  He  re 
cords  the  falsehoods  of  Mary  Koscoe.  We  quote 
the  last  few  lines : 

"She  told  him  [Paine]  that  when  very  young  his  'Age  of 
Reason  '  was  put  into  her  hands,  but  that  the  more  she  read  in  it 
the  more  dark  and  distressed  she  felt,  and  she  threw  the  book  into 
the  fire.  '  I  wish  I  had  done  as  you,'  he  replied,  '  for  if  the  devil 
ever  had  any  agency  in  any  work,  he  has  had  it  in  my  writing 
that  book.'  When  going  to  carry  him  some  refreshments,  she 
repeatedly  heard  him  uttering  the  language,  'O  Lord!'  'Lord 
God!'  or  'Lord  Jesus,  hav  mercy  on  me!'"  (Ibid,  pp.  13,  14). 

The  reader  will  now  begin  to  see  the  probable 
source  of  the  Manley  inspiration.  Cheetham  wanted 
evidence  of  Paine's  recantation.  The  lying  Mary 
Roscoe,  who  probably  never  visited  Paine,  was  re 
porting  to  her  Quaker  brethren  that  Paine  regretted 
his  Deistical  work  and  called  on  Jesus  to  have  mercy 
on  him. 

Ten  years  later,  when  Mary  Eoscoe  had  become 
Mary  Hirisdale,  another  Quaker,  Charles  Collins,  learn 
ing  that  William  Cobbett  contemplated  writing  a  life 


A    BOM  AN    CATHOLIC    CANABD.  7 

of  Paine,  went  to  him  and  wanted  to  persuade  him 
that  Paine  had  recanted.  Cobbett  laughed  at  him, 
and  sent  him  away.  The  wily  Quaker  came  again 
and  again ;  he  wanted  Cobbett  to  say,  "It  was  said 
that  Paine  recanted."  "No,"  said  Cobbett  ;  "  but  I 
will  say  that  you  said  it,  and  that  you  tell  a  lie,  unless 
you  prove  the  truth  of  what  you  say.  Giv  me  proof, 
name  persons,  state  times  and  precise  words,  or  I  will 
denounce  you  as  a  liar."  Friend  Charley  was  posed, 
but  something  had  to  be  done.  He  at  last  brought  a 
paper  cautiously  and  craftily  drawn  up  and  signed 
with  initials.  Cobbett  compelled  him  to  give  the  full 
name  :  it  was  Mary  Hinsdale.  As  soon  as  practicable, 
Cobbett  called  on  Friend  Mary.  She  shuffled,  evaded, 
equivocated.  It  was  so  long  ago  she  could  not  speak 
positively  of  anything;  she  had  never  seen  the  paper; 
had  never  given  Frier.d  Charley  authority  to  say  any 
thing  in"  her  name.  And  finally  she  said: 

"I  tell  thee  that  I  have  no  recollection  of  any  person  or  thing 
that  I  saw  at  Thomas  Paine's  house"  (Vale's  Paine,  183,  184). 

The  falsehood  about  Paine's  recantation  is  now  so 
apparent  that  no  intelligent  and  reputable  person  pre 
tends  to  believe  it  The  following  letter,  therefore, 
from  the  Eev.  A.  W.  Cornell,  of  Harpersville,  N.  Y., 
to  the  New  York  World  in  1877,  will  be  highly  amus 
ing  to  those  who  never  read  it  before : 

"I  see  by  your  paper  that  Bob  Ingersoll  discredits  Mary  Hins- 
dale's  story.  .  .  .  Ingersoll  is  right  in  his  conjecture  that 
Mary  Boscoe  and  Mary  Hinsdale  was  the  same  person.  Her 
maiden  name  was  Boscoe.  .  .  .  My  mother  was  a  Boscoe, 
a  niece  of  Mary  Boscoe,  and  lived  with  her  for  some  time.  I 
have  heard  her  relate  the  story  of  Tom  Paine's  dying  remorse,  as 
told  her  by  her  aunt,  who  was  a  witness  to  it.  She  says  (in  a 
letter  I  have  just  received  from  her)  'he  (Tom  Paine)  suffered 
fearfully  from  remorse,  and  renounced  his  Infidel  principles, 
calling  on  God  to  forgive  him,  and  wishing  his  pamphlets  and 
books  to  be  burnt,  saying  he  could  not  die  in  peace  until  it 
was  done ' "  (Ingersoll's  Paine  Vindicated,  Truth  Seeker  Tract 
No.  123,  p.  57). 

Eeader,  what  do  you  think  about  the  case  now  ? 
The  Eev.  A.  W.  Cornell  says  in  another  part  of  his 


8          A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CANARD. 

letter,  "  No  one  who  knew  that  good  lady  [Mary  Ros- 
coe  Hinsdale]  would  for  one  moment  doubt  her  ve 
racity,  or  question  her  testimony."  Gredat  Cornell! 

But  let  us  return  to  the  Fenwick  letter.  The  talk 
of  the  old  housekeeper  to  the  Jesuit  priests  con 
tinues; 

"Sometimes  he  cries,  -'0  God!  what  have  I  done  "to  suffer  so 
much?'  Then  shortly  after,  'But  there  is  no  God!'  And  again 
a  little  after,  '  Yet,  if  there  should  be,  what  will  become  of  me 
hereafter  ?' " 

The  original  of  this  falsehood  will  be  found  in  the 
journal  of  the  Quaker  Greliet  in  1809,  as  quoted 
above.  Mary  Roscoe  said  that  she  .repeatedly  heard 
Paine  say,  "  0  Lord  !"  "  O  God  !"  or  "  Lord  Jesus,  have 
mercy  on  me."  And  Parson  Cornell  says  her  veracity 
was  beyond  question.  But  it  so  happens  that  the 
Quaker  merchant  and  preacher  Willet  Hicks,  whose 
st-anding  was  beyond  reproach,  discredits  Mary's  story 
altogether.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  Paine, 
and  sending  little  delicacies  to  him  by  his  daughters, 
one  of  whom  afterward  stated  that  their  hired  girl 
Mary  Roscoe  "  once  wished  to  go  with  her  but  was 
refused"  (Vale's  Paine,  177-178). 

In  1841  Gilbert  Yale  interviewed  the  venerable 
Willet  Hicks,  concerning  the  last  hours  of  Paine.  The 
old  gentleman  said  that  his  servant  Mary  Hinsdale 
never  saw  Paine  to  his  knowledge.  After  Paine's 
death,  the  Friends  annoyed  and  pressed  him  to  say 
something  detrimental  to  Paine.  He  was  beset  by 
them  here  and  in  England,  where  he  went  soon  after. 
They  wished  to  convict  Paine  of  calling  on  Jesus,  and 
they  would  snv;  "Did  thee  never  hear  him  call  on 
Christ?"  And  he  added: 

"You  cannot  conceive  what  a  deal  of  trouble  I  had;  and  as  for 
money,  I  could  have  had  any  sums  if  I  would  have  said  any 
thing  against  Thomas  Paine,  or  if  I  would  even  have  consented  to 
remain  silent.  They  informed  me  that  the  doctor  [Manley  !]  was 
willing  to  say  something  that  would  satisfy  them  if  I  would 
engage  to  be  silent  only.  But,  they  observed,  he  'the  doctor) 
knows  the  standing  of  Willet  Hicks,  and  that  he  knows  all  about 


A  KOMAN  CATHOLIC  CANARD.  9 

Paine,  and  if  he  (Hicks)  should  contradict  what  I  say  [1  e.,  what 
the  doctor  says]  he  would  destroy  my  [i.  e.,  the  doctor's]  tes 
timony." 

The  reader  will  perceive  from  this  that  Dr.  Manley's 
testimony  might  have  been  still  more  false  but  for  the 
fear  of  Willet  Hicks. 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Hicks  said  to  Mr.  Yale,  who  took 
clown  the  words  and  published  them : 

"  Thomas  Paine  was  a  good  man — an  honest  man." 

And  with  great  indignation  he  added  : 

"He  was  not  a  man  to  talk  to  Mary  Hinsdale"  (Vale's  Paine, 
178,  179). 

When  Cobbett  had  got  from  Mary  Hinsdale  a  re 
cantation  of  the  falsehood  that  Paine  had  recanted,  he 
sought  to  bring  Friend  Charley's  nose  to  the  grind 
stone;  but  Charley  had  left  town  for  fear  of  the  yel 
low  fever,  and  Cobbett  soon  returned  to  England. 

Some  years  afterward  this  same  ColHns  called  at  the 
house  of  Gilbert  Vale  to  beg  him  not  to  leave  the 
Beacon  at  his  house.  Mr.  Yale  then  asked  Collins 
what  induced  him  to  publish  the  accourrt  of  Mary 
Hinsdale.  Collins  said  he  thought  it  true  ;  he  believed 
she  had  seen  Paine,  who  might  confess  to  a  girl  what 
he  would  not  to  Willet  Hicks.  He  knew  that  Hicks 
and  many  other  respected  Friends  did  not  believe  it, 
but  yet  it  might  be  true.  Yale  asked  him  what  he 
thought  of  her  character  now  He  replied :  ;t  Some 
of  our  Friends  believe  she  indulges  in  opiates,  and  do 
not  give  her  credit  for  truth."  "  Do  you  believe  they 
are  justified  in  their  opinions?"  said  Yale.  "  Oh,  yes," 
said  Collins ;  "  I  believe  they  speak  the  truth,  but  this 
does  not  affect  her  testimony  when  a  young  woman ; 
she  might  then  have  spoken  the  truth  "  (Ibid,  185, 186). 

No  more  need  be  said  on  the  question  of  the  verac 
ity  of  Mary  Eoscoe  Hinsdale,  or  whether  the  dying 
Deist  said  in  her  hearing,  "Lord  Jesus,  have  rnercyon 
me."  Nor  will  any  intelligent  reader  of  Paine's  "Age 
of  Eeason  "  believe  that  he  ever  cried  out  in  the  hear- 


10  A    KOMAN    CATHOLIC    CANARD. 

ing  of  his  housekeeper,  "  But  there  is  no  God  !  "  Or 
that  he  ever  said  in  his  senses,  "  Yet  if  there  should 
be,  what  will  become  of  me  hereafter?  "  Credat  Mrs. 
Partington  ! 

The  old  housekeeper  continued  her  talk  to  the  Jes 
uits,  as  reported  in  the  Fenwick  letter: 

"Thus  he  will  continue  some  time,  when  on  a  sudden  he  will 
scream  as  if  in  terror  and  agony,  and  call  out  to  me  by  name. 
On  one  of  these  occasions,  which  are  very  frequent,  I  went  to 
him  and  inquired  what  he  wanted.  'Stay  with  me,'  he  replied, 
'for  God's  sake,  for  I  cannot  bear  to  be  left  alone.'  I  then  ob 
served  that  I  could  not  always  be  with  him,  as  I  had  much  to  at 
tend  to  in  the  house.  '  Then,'  said  he,  '  send  even  a  child  to  stay 
with  me,  for  it  is  hell  to  be  alone.'  I  never  ^aw,  she  concluded, 
a  more  unhappy,  a  more  forsaken  man;  it  seems  as  if  he  cannot 
reconcile  himself  to  die." 

This  is  borrowed  from  Dr.  Manlej,  who  says: 

"He  would  not  be  left  alone  night  or  day;  he  not  only  required 
to  have  some  person  with  him,  but  he  must  see  that  he  or  she  was 
there,  and  would  not  allow  his  curtain  to  be  closed  at  any  time; 
and  if,  as  would  sometimes  unavoidably  happen,  he  was  left 
alone,  he  would  scream  and  holla  until  some  person  came  to  him. " 

The  doctor  had  previously  said  that  at  first  Paine 
was  satisfied  to  be  left  alone  during  the  day,  but  later 
he  was  afraid  he  should  die  when  unattended.  And 
though  he  professed  to  be  above  the  fear  of  death y 
some  parts  of  his  conduct  were  with  difficulty  recon- 
cilable  with  his  belief.  But  he  further  states  that 
Paine's  expressed  anxiety  was  concerning  the  disposal 
of  his  body,  an  application  being  pending  for  an  inter 
ment  in  the  Friends'  burying-ground,  which  was  at 
last  rejected,  And  in  this  conversation  the  doctor  re 
ports  Paine  as  saying,  what  one  may  well  imagine 
he  would,  "  I  think  I  can  say  what  they  make  Jesus 
Christ  to  say — 'My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  for 
saken  me  ?  ' !  Such  expressions  may  be  used  by  sick 
or  distressed  people,  and  it  is  easy  to  torture  them  into 
profanity.  But  Paine  was  never  charged  with  pro 
fanity  of  speech,  and  Dr.  Manley  introduced  the  sub 
ject  of  religion  to  him  by  saying: 


A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CANARD.         11 

"  You  have  never  been  in  the  habit  of  mixing  in  your  conver 
sation  words  of  coarse  meaning;  you  have  never  indulged  in  the 
practice  of  profane  swearing." 

We  now  return  to  the  Fen  wick  letter.  Paine  hav 
ing  awoke,  the  two  Jesuits  were  conducted  into  his 
room  : 

"  On  entering  we  found  him  just  getting  out  of  his  slumber. 
A  more  wretched  being  in  appearance  I  never  before  beheld.  He 
was  lying  in  a  bed,  sufficiently  decent  of  itself,  but  at  present 
besmeared  with  filth." 

O  holy  mother!  Did  the  "  decent-looking  elderly 
woman,"  who  was  expecting  the  priests  to  call  that 
day,  introduce  them  to  the  dying  man  in  a  bed  be 
smeared  with  filth  ?  Why  did  not  Dr.  Manley  or  the 
executors  discharge  such  a  nasty  nurse  ?  Oredat  Lord 
Dundreary  ! 

"  His  look  was  that  of  a  man  greatly  tortured  in  mind;  his  eyes 
haggard,  his  countenance  forbidding,  and  his  whole  appearance 
that  of  one  whose  better  days  had  been  one  continual  scene  of 
debauch." 

Paine  was  troubled  in  mind  about  his  burial,  just 
as  Voltaire  was  before  him.  Dr.  Manley  argued  with 
him  that  that  should  be  a  matter  of  least  concern. 
Paine  answered  ;'that  he  had  nothing  else  to  talk 
about,  and  that  he  would  as  lief  talk  of  his  death  as 
of  anything;  but  that  he  was  not  so  indifferent  about 
his  corpse  as  I  appeared  to  be."  The  description  of 
Paine's  person  in  the  Fenwick  letter  is  borrowed  from 
various  accounts  by  his  lying  adversaries  in  those 
times.  Oredat  Dr.  Talmage  I 

"His  only  nourishment  at  this  time,  we  are  informed,  was 
nothing  more  than  milk  punch,  in  which  he  indulged  to  the  full 
extent  of  his  weak  state." 

Did  the  scholarly  bishop  of  Boston,  ex-president  of 
Georgetown  College,  commit  the  solecism,  u  only 
nothing  more  than?  "  Oredat  Artium  Magister  I 

When  Dr.  Manley  first  saw  Paine  he  had  been  dis 
pensing  with  the  usual  quantity  of  stimulus,  which 
privation  seemed  to  make  him  worse,  and  he  had  just 


12  A    ROMAN    CATHOLIC     CANARD. 

resumed  it.     And  the  doctor  further  says,  "  He  never 
slept  without  the  assistance  of  an  anodyne." 
The  Fenwick  letter  proceeds  : 

"He  had  partaken,  undoubtedly,  but  very  recently  of  it,  as  the 
sides  and  corners  of  his  mouth  exhibited  very  unequivocal  traces 
of  it,  as  well  as  of  blood  which  had  also  followed  in  the  track  and 
left  its  mark  on  the  pillow.  His  face  to  a  certain  extent  had  also 
been  besmeared  with  it." 

Shame  on  such  a  nurse!  At  this  time  Paine's  ex 
ecutors  were  paying  $20  a  week  for  the  sick  man's 
board  and  attendance.  Why  didn't  this  "decent- 
looking "  nurse  wipe  her  patient's  face  before  bring 
ing  in  these  two  priests?  Credat  Mark  Ttuain! 

Dr,  Manley  says  that,  about  a  fortnight  after  his 
first  attendance  on  the  patient, 

"  He  became  very  sore,  the  water  which  he  passed  in  bed  ex 
coriating  the  parts  to  which  it  applied,  and  this  kind  of  ulcera- 
tion,  which  was  sometimes  very  extensive,  continued  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  till  the  time  of  "his  death.  ...  In  this  deplor 
able  state,  with  confirmed  dropsy,  attended  with  frequent  cough, 
vomiting,  and  hiccough,  he  continued  growing  from  bad  to  worse, 
till  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  June,  when  he  died.  .  .  .  Dur 
ing  the  last  three  weeks  his  situation  was  such  that  his  decease 
was  confidently  expected  every  day,  his  ulcers  having  assumed  a 
gangrenous  appearance,  being  excessively  fetid,  and  discolored 
blisters  having  taken  place  on  the  soles  of  his  feet,  without  any 
ostensible  cause,  which  baffled  the  usual  attempts  to  arrest  their 
progress;  and  when  we  consider  his  advanced  age,  the  feebleness 
of  his  constitution,  his  constant  practice  of  using  ardent  spirits 
ad  libitum,  till  the  commencement  of  his  last  illness,  so  far  from 
wondering  that  he  died  so  soon,  we  are  constrained  to  ask,  How 
did  he  live  so  long  ?" 

Mark  the  language — ''  using  ardent  spirits  ad  libitum 
till  the  commencement  of  his  last  illness"  The  doctor  is 
unwilling  to  attest  iheadlibilum  indulgence  during  the 
last  sickness,  and  what  did  he  know  about  prior  in 
dulgence?  It  looks  as  if  Cheetham  had  a  hand  in  the 
draft  of  the  Manley  letter.  The  doctor  evidently 
stopped  the  diet  of  milk  punch  and  prescribed  mor 
phine,  for  he  says  the  patient  never  slept  without  the 
assistance  of  an  anodyne. 

The  stories  about  Paine's  beastly  intemperance  are 


A     KOMAN     CATHOLIC    CANARD.  13 

all  lies.  They  were  started  by  Cheetham,  the  con 
victed  libele^  and  were  continued  by  Grant  Thorburn, 
who  after  Paine's  death  was  compelled  by  advice  of 
his  counsel,  the  late  Horace  Holden,  to  retract  a  libel 
about  Mrs.  Bonneville,  if  we  remember  rightly,  but 
incidentally  about  the  deceased  Infidel.  Perhaps  the 
most  plausible  authentic  testimony  against  Paine's  so 
briety  "was  given  by  Carver,  who  invited  him  to  board 
at  his  house.  Nothing  was  said  about  charging  for 
board,  and  Paine  remained  with  him  some  months. 

While  there  Paine  had  a  stroke  of  apoplexy,  and 
for  a  while  had  to  have  a  nurse.  Carver  got  straitened 
for  money,  and  sent  Paine  a  bill  for  board  for  himself 
and  nurse.  Paine  was  indignant,  and  was  going  to  pay 
it  and  cut  Carver's  friendship.  But  his  friends  eaid 
the  charge  was  exorbitant  and  persuaded  him  to  resist 
payment.  Then  Carver  wrote  a  scurrilous  letter  in 
vviiich  he  accused  Paine  of  helping  himself  too  freely 
from  Carver's  demijohn  of  brandy,  and  pretending 
that  it  was  a  stroke  of  apoplexy  that  caused  him  to 
fall  down  stairs.  But  that  it  was  apoplexy  appears 
from  Dr.  Manley's  letter,  who  says  he  found  the  pa 
tient  in  a  "  fever,  and  very  apprehensive  of  an  attack 
of  apoplexy,  as  he  stated  that  he  had  had  that  disease 
before,  and  at  this  time  felt  a  degree  of  vertigo."  And 
in  August,  1806,  Paine  wrote  to  his  farm  tenant  Dean, 
saying  that  he  had  a  stroke  of  apoplexy,  Sunday,  Aug. 
15th,  the  fit  taking  him  on  the  stairs,  that  he  was  sup 
posed  to  be  dead  at  first,  and  had  not  been  able  to  get 
out  of  bed  since.  "  I  consider  the  scene  I  have  passed 
through,"  he  writes,  "  as  an  experiment  on  dying,  and 
I  find  that  death  has  no  terrors  for  me." 

For  a  complete  refutation  of  the  libels  about  Paine's 
intemperance,  see  Yale's  "  Life  of  Paine,"  and  Inger- 
soll's  "Vindication  of  Paine,"  Truth  Seeker  Tract  No. 
123.  Paine  intended  to  make  Carver  one  of  his  lega 
tees,  but  after  this  affair 'he  renounced  him.  The  bill 
was  amicably  settled  by  Paine's  friends,  and  Carver 


14         A  KOMAN  CATHOLIC  CANAKD. 

confessed  that  he  wrote  in  anger.  But  he  was  angrier 
still  some  years  later  to  see  the  correspondence  repub- 
lished  by  Grant  Thorburn,  and  cut  it  out  of  the  book. 
He  said  that  Cheetham  first  printed  the  letter  without 
his  consent  for  base  purposes.  And  when  Paine  was 
on  his  death-bed  Carver  wrote  him  a  tender  letter  of 
apology  and  sympathy,  which  is  published  in  the  pref 
ace  of  Vale's  "Life  of  Paine."  Jarvis,  the  celebrated 
portrait  painter,  with  whom  Paine  lived  after  leaving 
Carver,  says  that  Paine  was  neither  dirty  in  his  habits 
nor  drunken. 

In  a  compendium  of  the  "Life  of  Paine"  by  the 
same  author  (New  York,  1837)  Mr.  Vale  says: 

"In  reply  to  a  query  which  we  recently  put  to  Col.  Burr, 
as  to  Mr.  Paine's  alleged  vulgarity,  intemperance,  and  want  of 
cleanliness,  as  disseminated  by  those  who  wished  it  true,  he  re 
marked,  with  dignity:  'Sir,  he  dined  at  my  table!'  Then,  am  I  to 
understand  that  he  was  a  gentleman  ?  '  Certainly,  sir,'  replied 
Col.  Burr;  'I  always  considered  Mr.  Paine  a  gentleman,  a  pleas 
ant  companion,  a  good-natured  and  intelligent  man,  decidedly 
temperate,  and  with  a  proper  regard  to  his  personal  appearance, 
whenever  I  saw  him.'" 

But  to  return  to  the  Fenwick  letter : 

"As  soon  as  we  had  seated  ourselves  F[ather]  Kohlman,  in  a 
very  mild  tone  of  voice,  informed  him  that  we  were  Catholic 
priests  and  were  come  on  his  invitation  to  see  him.  Paine  made 
no  reply." 

They  had  come  on  his  invitation,  and  he  had  in 
structed  the  housekeeper  to  admit  that  day  none  but 
Catholic  priests,  and  yet  they  said  to  him  :  "  We  are 
Catholic  priests,  come  on  your  invitation!"  Credat 
tonsured  monk  ! 

"  After  a  short  pause  F[ather]  Kohlman  proceeded  thus,  ad 
dressing  himself  to  Paine  in  the  French  language,  thinking  that 
as  Paine  had  been  in  France  he  was  probably  acquainted  with 
that  language  (which  however  was  not  the  fact)  and  might  better 
understand  what  he  said,  as  he  had  at  that  time  greater  facility, 
and  could  express  himself  better,  in  it  than  in  the  English." 

Perhaps  Father  Kohlman,  whose  name  is  a  German 
one,  could  talk  French  better  than  English;  but  when 
the  writer  says  that  Paine,  who  had  lived  nine  years 


A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CANARD.         15 

in  Paris,  was  not  acquainted  with  the  French  language, 
Credat  Ollendorf! 

The  newspaper  copy  of  this  letter  omits  the  French  ; 
we  supply  it  from  the  lives  of  u  Deceased  Bishops," 
published  by  O'Shea,  New  York,  1872. 

"'Mons.  Paine,  j'ai  lu  votre  livre  intitule  L'Agede  la  Raison, 
ou  vous  avez  attacque  1'eoriture  sainte  aveo  une  violence,  sans 
bornes,  et  d'autres  de  vos  ecrits  publies  en  France,  et  je  suis  per 
suade  que ' " 

"  Paine  here  interrupted  him  abruptly,  and  in  a  sharp  tone  of 
voice,  ordering  him  to  speak  English  thus  :  "  Speak  English, 
man  ;  speak  English.'  " 

As  if  Paine- could  not  understand  French  !  for  that 
is  not  only  the  inference  but  the  fact  alleged  by  the 
writer.  As  if  Paine  had  to  wait  until  forty  words  of 
a  foreign  language  were  spoken  before  he  interrupted 
the  speaker !  And  as  if  Father  Fenwick  many  years 
afterward  could  report  the  very  words  spoken  in 
French,  and  remembered  that  Father  Kohlman  was 
interrupted  at  the  particle  que  !  Credat  notre  Dame  ! 

The  apocryphal  character  of  the  Fenwick  letter  is 
now  so  apparent  that  perhaps  further  comment  will 
be  superfluous.  The  writer  translates  the  beginning 
of  the  sentence,  and  has  Father  Kohlman  complete  it 
with  variations,  thus  : 

" 'Mr.  Paine,  I  hav  read  your  book  entitled,  the  "Age  of  Kea- 
son,"  as  well  as  your  other  writings  against  the  Christian  religion, 
and  am  at  a  loss  to  imagin  how  a  man  of  your  good  sense  could 
hav  employed  his  talents  jn  attempting  to  undermine  what,  to 
say  nothing  of  its  divine  establishment,  the  wisdom  of  ages  has 
deemed  most  conducive  to  the  happiness  of  man.  The  Christian 
religion,  sir — ' 

"  '  That's  enough,  sir,  that's  enough,'  said  Paine,  again  inter 
rupting  him.  <  I  see  what  you  would  be  about;  I  wish  to  hear  no 
more  from  you,  sir.  My  mind  is  made  up  on  that  subject.  I 
look  upon  the  whole  of  the  Christian  scheme  to  be  a  tissue  of  ab 
surdities  and  lies,  and  J.  C.*[sic]  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  cun 
ning  knave  and  an  impostor.'  " 

Any  one  who  has  read  the  "  Age  of  Eeason  "  knows 
that  Paine  never  could  have  said  that  Jesus  Christ 
was  a  knave  and  an  impostor.  Credat  ignoramus  ! 

The  next  three  paragraphs  being  omitted    in  the 


16         A  KOMAN  CATHOLIC  CANAKD. 

newspaper  copy,  we  supply  them  from  the  book.     The 
canard  is  incomplete  without  them : 

"F[ather]  Kohlman  here  attempted  to  speak  again,  when 
Paine,  with  a  lowering  countenance,  ordered  him  instantly  to  be 
silent,  and  to  trouble  him  no  more.  '  I  hav  told  you  already 
that  I  wish  to  hear  nothing  more  from  you.' 

"  '  The  Birble,  sir,'  said  F.  Kohlman,  still  attempting  to  speak, 
'  is  a  sacred  and  divine  book,  which  has  stood  the  test  and  criti 
cism  of  abler  pens  than  yours — pens  which  have  at  least  made 
some  show  of  argument,  and — ' 

"'Your  Bible,'  returned  Paine,  contains  nothing  but  fables; 
yes,  fables,  and  I  have  proved  it  to  a  demonstration. ' 

"All  this  time  I  looked  upon  the  monster  with  pity  mingled 
with  indignation  at  his  blasphemy.  [Here  the  newspaper  copy 
begins  again].  I  felt  a  degree  of  horror  at  thinking  that  in  a  very 
short  time  he  would  be  cited  to  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  his 
God,  whom  he  so  shockingly  blasphemed,  with  all  his  sins  upon 
him.  Seeing  that  F.  Kohlman  had  completely  failed  in  making 
any  impression  upon  him,  and  that  Paine  would  listen  to  nothing 
that  came  from  him,  nor  would  even  suffer  him  to  speak,  I  finally 
concluded  to  try  what  effect  I  might  have.  I  accordingly  com 
menced  with  observing: 

"  '  Mr.  Paine,  you  will  certainly  allow  there  exists  a  God,  and 
that  this  God  cannot  be  indifferent  to  the  conduct  and  action  of 
his  creatures.' 

" '  I  will  allow  nothing,  sir,'  he  hastily  replied.  'I  shall  make 
no  concessions.' 

"  '  Well,  sir,  if  you  will  listen  calmly  for  one  moment,'  said  I, 
'  I  will  prove  to  you  that  there  is  such  a  being,  and  I  will  demon 
strate  from  his  very  nature  that  he  cannot  be  an  idle  spectator  of 
our  conduct.' 

"  'Sir,  I  wish  to  hear  nothing  you  have  to  say.  I  see  your 
object,  gentlemen,  is  to  trouble  me;  I  wish  you  to  leave  the 
room.' 

"  This  he  spoke  in  an  exceedingly  angry  tone,  so  much  that  he 
foamed  at  the  mouth. 

"  'Mr.  Paine,'  I  continued,  'I  assure  you  our  object  in  coming 
hither  was  purely  to  do  you  good.  We  had  no  other  motive. 
We  had  been  given  to  understand  that  you  wished  to  see  us,  and 
we  are  come  accordingly,  because  it  is  a  principle  with  us  never 
to  refuse  our  services  to  a  dying  man  asking  for  them.  But  for 
this  we  should  not  have  come,  for  we  never  obtrude  upon  any 
individual.' 

"  Paine,  on  hearing  this,  seemed  to  relax  a  little.  In  a  milder 
tone  than  he  had  hitherto  used  he  replied: 

'"You  can  do  me  no  good  now;  it  is  too  late.  I  have  tried 
different  physicians,  but  their  remedies  have  all  failed.  I  have 
nothing  now  to  expect'  (this  he  spoke  with  a  sigh)  'but  a 
speedy  dissolution.  My  physicians  have  indeed  told  me  as  much.' 

"  'You  have  misunderstood,'  said  I,  immediately,  to  him;  'we 


A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CANARD.         17 

are  not  come  to  prescribe  any  remedies  for  your  bodily  com 
plaints;  we  only  come  to  make  you  an  offer  of  our  ministry  for 
the  good  of  your  immortal  soul,  which  is  in  great  danger  of  being 
forever  cast  off  by  the  Almighty  on  account  of  your  sins,  and  es 
pecially  for  the  crime  of  having  vilified  and  rejected  his  word 
and  uttered  blasphemies  against  his  Son.' 

"Paine,  on  hearing  this,  was  roused  into  a  fury;  he  gritted  his 
teeth,  turned  and  twisted  himself  several  times  in  his  bed,  utter 
ing  all  the  while  the  bitterest  imprecations." 

Dr.  Manley  does  not  describe  the  patient  as  able  to 
turn  and  twist  in  his  bed,  and  he  expressly  says  he 
was  not  a  profane  man.  But  this  writer  says  he  ut 
tered  the  bitterest  imprecations.  Credat Anthony  Corn- 
stock  ! 

"  I  firmly  believe  that  such  was  the  rage  in  which  he  was  at 
the  time  that  if  he  had  a  pistol  he  would  have  shot  one  of  us, 
for  he  conducted  himself  more  like  a  madman  than  a  rational 
creature." 

What  a  lucky  escape  for  Father  Fenwick !  Just 
think  of  the  youthful  priest  being  sent  straight  to 
paradise  by  a  pistol  shot  from  the  trembling  hand  of 
the  dying  Infidel  !  Credat  George  Francis  Train  ! 

"  '  Begone  !'  said  he,  '  and  trouble  me  no  more.  I  was  in  peace,' 
he  continued,  'till  you  came.' 

"  '  We  know  better  than  that,'  replied  F.  Kohlman;  '  we  know 
that  you  cannot  be  in  peace;  there  can  be  no  peace  for  the  wicked; 
Ood  has  said  it.'" 

And  why  didn't  he  add,  "Your  housekeeper  has 
confirmed  it?"  Credo. t  Judge  Benedict ! 

"  '  Away  with  you,  and  your  God,  too;  leave  the  room  instantly,' 
he  exclaimed;  'all  that  you  have  uttered  are  [sic']  lies,  filthy  lies, 
and  if  I  had  a  little  more  time  [and  strength?]  I  would  prove  it, 
.as  I  did  about  your  impostor  Jesus  Christ.'  " 

In  the  "  Age  of  Reason  "  Paine  says  of  Jesus  Christ, 
"He  was  a  virtuous  and  amiable  man."  Now  he  tells 
the  Jesuits  that  he  was  an  impostor!  Credat  Beelze 
bub  !  mfwmh  LObmr 

"  '  Monster  !'  exclaimed  F.  Kohlman  in  a  burst  of  zeal;  'you 
will  hav  no  more  time;  your  hour  has  arrived.  Think  rather  of 
the  awful  account  you  have  already  to  offer,  and  implore  pardon 
of  God.  Provoke  no  longer  his  just  indignation  upon  your  head.' 


18  A    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    CANAKD. 

"  Paine  here  again  ordered  us  to  retire  in  the  highest  pitch  of 
his  voice,  and  seemed  a  very  maniac  with  his  rage  and  madness. 
'  Let  us  go,'  said  I  to  F.  Kohlman,  '  we  have  nothing  more  to  do 
here;  he  seems  to  be  entirely  abandoned  by  God;  further  words- 
are  lost  upon  him.' " 

Yes,  of  course ;  and  why  should  not  the  Jesuits 
have  discovered  that  at  first?  Was  it  not  evident  to 
the  dullest  mind  ?  And  how  thin  the  pretense  that 
after  repeatedly  refusing  to  hear  any  argument  about 
the  Bible  and  Christianity  Paine  relaxed  when  told 
that  they  had  come  purely  to  do  him  good,  and  at  his 
own  invitation,  and  that  he  then  expected  them  to 
prescribe  some  remedy  for  his  disease!  Their  per 
sistence  was  far  greater  than  that  of  the  hypocritical 
Manley.  The  insolent  priests  did  not  go  until  ordered 
to  do  so  some  six  times.  Credat  Diabolus  ridens  ! 

11  Upon  this  we  both  withdrew  from  the  room,  and  left  the  un 
fortunate  man  to  his  thoughts.  I  never  before  or  since  beheld  a 
more  hardened  wretch.  This  you  may  rely  upon;  it  is  a  faithful 
and  correct  account  of  the  transaction." 

Credat  Baron^  Munchausen  ! 

The  newspaper  copy  adds  what  the  book  does  notr 
to  wit : 

"I  remain  your  affectionate  brother, 

"  f  BENEDICT,  Bishop  of  Boston." 

Gloria  patri  Benedicto  ! 

And  now  we  challenge  the  dignitaries  of  the  Cath 
olic  church  to  produce  the  original  letter  and  prove 
who  wrote  it  We  do  not  believe  that  Bishop  Fen- 
wick  ever  saw  it.  It  is  a  fabrication,  like  the  Decre 
tals  of  the  primitive  popes,  and  the  apocryphal  gos 
pels  of  the  early  Catholic  church.  By  such  forgeries 
Christianity  was  propagated  through  the  Dark  Ages ; 
but  they  only  serve  a  contrary  purpose  now. 

"And  the  fifth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  seat  of  the 
beast;  and  his  kingdom  was  full  of  darkness;  and  they  gnawed 
their  tongues  for  Paine"  (Rev.  xvi,  10). 


THE  TRUTH  SEEKER  OFFICE,  19 

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THE  TRUTH  SEEKER  OFFICE.  23 

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other.  Each  reader  knows  that  he  is  one  of  a  goodly  company  who  find 
comfort  and  inspiration  in  its  pages.  If  they  should  meet  each  other  they 
would  feel  like  brothers  and  sisters.  They  hav  lived  under  one  intellect 
ual  roof,  felt  the  glow  of  the  same  fireside,  and  broken  together  the 
bread  of  life.  Such  a  paper  is  to  thousands  a  substitute  for  the  church. — 
GEORGE  CHAINEY,  in  This  World. 

THE  TKUTH  SEEKER,  founded  by  D.  M.  Bennett,  is  to-day  perhaps  the 
strongest  foe  with  which  superstition  has  to  contend,  and  a  long  future  of 
great  usefulness  is,  we  trust  and  believe,  before  it. —  Winst&i,  Conn.,  Press. 

There  ought  to  be  five  hundred  subscribers  to  THE  TRUTH  SEEKER  In 
this  county,  just  to  rebuke  the  infamous  church  bigots  who  are  using  force 
and  fraud  to  suppress  Liberalism. —  Worthington,  Minn.,  Advance. 

This  sterling  and  widely-circulated  Freethought  journal  has  won  its 
way  deep  into  the  hearts  of  its  readers.  THE  TRUTH  SEEKER  is  a  great 
paper  and  deserves  the  most  generous  support  of  the  Liberal  public.  The 
recent  numbers  received  are  splendid  in  every  respect. — San  Francisco 
ffttiver&e. 

THE  TRUTH  SEEKER  has  gathered  its  resources,  and  will  be  a  stronger, 
better,  and  brighter  paper  than  ever. — Liberal  League  Man  for  January. 

THE  TRUTH  SEEKER  has  become  a  necessity  to  the  Liberal  cause. — Kan 
sas  Blil'/e. 

Address  THE   TRUTH    SEEKER, 

21  Clinton  Place,  New  York  City. 


